For me, I don't think her LP music was the best showcase for her talents. The music is big and intense and she isn't an intense skater. I prefer seeing her skate to balletic music in the LP because her skating is light and airy and is a better match for that, rather than heavy symphonic pieces.

Well, on the subject of the thread, Mao got 72.76 PCS which is a personal best. So I don't see how this is her being held back in a FS where she URed multiple jumps. But as mentioned, she doesn't carry the speed of Kostner or the seamlessness of Kim. I agree that she's been dubbed a "technical skater" more than a complete skater, although she's worked very hard to improve her artistry. Unfortunately, she's only really made those huge artistic strides in the past few seasons which is why Kim has always managed to stay ahead of her artistically and also Kostner when she skates half decently.

Not really. She improved her expression and projection, but she was always an artist throughout her career. Watch any of her SPs from 2006-07 to 2008-09 which are some of the best SPs of the Vancouver quad.

See this is the problem I have with PCS since the very beginning and really think this part of the COP need to be fixed. The numbers themselves are meaningless UNLESS is relative to other competitors during the season, and relative how they did they did on the day, at previous competitions, but it is rarely ever applied correctly due to limited time factor that increases human error. There are too much wiggle room for manipulation. Whenever there are wiggle room, you bet there are certain judges will take maximum advantage of anonymity.

The general impression I had seeing Mao live is she looks great on camera, great at close ups as she hold her positions well with excellent ballet posture, but skated smaller with the likes of Kostner and Kim in direct comparison. I won't go into the criticism i have of her program construct in recent years, where for me the performance is only in the step sequence, the rest about setting jumps up, so of course that affect her PCS. I have always thought Kostner's speed is greatly exaggerated since it is one thing to be capable of great speed during step sequences but if she deliberately slowed down for the rest of the program like in recent years with clever choice of music and simplified movement, what is the point of having great speed? Are points suppose to be rewarded based on what is performed or how the skaters are perceived? It is a particular problem with Patrick and Hanyu's marks in recent years as well. It makes them beyond reach of most upcoming skaters even if they skated perfect. By the way, the cross over argument is misleading, because it comes down to style and the mechanics of speed. There's a reason Yuna's difficult combos have the highest and furthest trajectory and flow when it is done properly. Her 96% success rate (including missed/aborted attempts 88%) up to 2013 season in delivering difficult 3/3s more than support the good practice and in theory, and that is why many young skaters with true lutz follow that approach (Gracie, SoYoun, Nathalie, Anna to name a few etc)

Actually Mao shouldn't have to do anything and she should see her PCS rise up automatically if she continue. Especially Kostner and Kim are no longer in the race. Kostner's PCS has improved during Kim's absence and Mao's technique adjusting slump, and it never came down largely because Kim did not take part during the GP series for 2 years so the judges never had the proper recalibration process. I'd even argue Kostner is needed in Europe as a benchmark for the Russian babies to boost their PCS (if what happened at Sochi is to believed).

At recent WC FS in Japan, it is completely outrageous Carolina is still awarded 10s for composition/choreography and 9.75 for interpretation consider what she brought that day.

I personally think if PCS is to applied accurately, the judges can continue to do what they are doing, but there must be a separate factoring process according to the success/failure rate of program and possibly the entire competition. There're bell curve in some exams, why not in figure skating competitions too? The best performed program deserve better awards regardless of reputation.

May be an algorithm can be devised to take in consideration of things like falls, UR, edge calls, difficulty, ice coverage, complexity etc.
For example - a simplified algorithm can be something like if the skater is only able to fulfill 80% of their program successfully (Something like BV+ 1GOE average.) Then what ever PCS they get from the judges should by factored by 0.8 and that should be their factored PCS. If the skater were able to exceed the average grade execution with 100% of their BV + average of +2 GOEs, then the PCS can get factored by something like 1.02 for example.

This simple algorithm only illustrate the rough 'principle' behind the idea. I am not a mathematician but there should be an ideal algorithm to take in account of difficulty and higher levels as well. It should encourage skating clean and greater presentation and ideally with difficulty (even if it may not result in positive GOEs). Overall the idea is to encourage more audience friendly programs and better presentation due to the bell curve.